Redemption.

Despair

Draco's POV.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Madam Pomfrey was ever coming to check up on him and back again, and Draco slept for some time, up until the very moment he heard the double door to the Hospital creaking open.

He had tried to deafen his mind about going to see Stiorra that very day, and now it was all he could think about as Professor McGonagall stepped into the Hospital wing.

A house-elf brought him washed up and clean clothes. Draco got dressed, then followed the Headmistress out, walking at his own pace as he tried to calm himself down so that his heart would finally stop pounding in his chest.

He followed the professor through the castle, and something inside of him was relieved that everyone had classes to go to so that none of them would be staring at him. Everyone must have known about them, and they all might have been eager to hear about what had happened.

Soon enough they reached her office, and together they walked in. Draco couldn't recall the last time he had come in here, nor if he ever did come inside when Professor Dumbledore was in office.

His portrait was hung on a wall, and the old man was starting down at him with his wise eyes, and it felt like he was staring into his soul. Next to his portrait stood Professor Snape's portrait. Draco averted his eyes when the Professor stared.

"It was very brave of you, Mr. Malfoy," the late Professor Dumbledore said from his portrait.

"You did the right thing," the Professor Snape added.

Draco looked up, and both late headmasters were staring down at him with a ghost of a smile on their faces.

Professor McGonagall was waiting up for him by the grand fireplace that stood on a side of the room. She put her black robe on, and a hat, then handed Draco a pot filled with floo powder.

Together they stepped into the fireplace and suddenly, the cold flames licked their legs as the whole world seemed to twirl around them and hundreds of empty fireplaces appeared in front of them until the spinning stopped.

Draco's stomach felt quite tingly as they got out from the fireplace and into a long and white hallway.

They reached a counter, behind which stood a nurse with the palest of skin. The nurse recognised Professor McGonagall, still she eyed Draco as though he wasn't supposed to there.

Still, she nodded -somehow giving permission to the both of them to walk through the doors that stood at the far end of the hallway. Draco followed the Headmistress around, and for a few seconds felt like a lost puppy. He was looking around anxiously, waiting quite impatiently for the moment he'd get to see Stiorra again.

Professor McGonagall walked through another double-door, then pushed open another -smaller- that led into a dim-lit room.

There was but a single bed inside, on which Stiorra's body laid unconscious, and a single chair in a corner. Draco froze as he stepped inside, taken aback by the shape she was in. The scratches on her face seemed worse than they did the night before, and the brand-new and fresh bandages around her chest were already stained with blood.

His heart stopped as his eyes fell onto hers, closed, and on her pale face. How much would he give to see her pretty brown eyes that instant.